Breast Cancer Awareness: A beautiful bond

Published 6:00 am, Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Being diagnosed with breast cancer can be one of the frightening moments in a woman’s life and some may go through the experience believing they are fighting the battle alone.

Julie Burke and Deborah Vierkant found support in each other during their tenacious fight against breast cancer.

Julie is a social worker based at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center emergency room. Realizing she hadn’t had a mammogram in a while, Julie scheduled an appointment at the hospital’s breast center. She went to her appointment believing that she wasn’t really at risk because there was no family history and she didn’t show any of the factors. Julie did not think much of the exam until the doctor contacted her.

“Two weeks later I was in a patient’s room and I got a phone call. They asked me to come back for some additional imaging and they saw something that they need to look at again.”

She went through a series of ultrasounds and other tests over the next few days and her concern began to grow. Julie happened to be in the Breast Center so much that she got on a first name basis with much of the staff.

“I went back and had a biopsy and those five days were the longest, it seemed like five years. Once I got the official word that it was cancer, it was like now we get a plan.”

Julie would go on to have surgery and then began her chemotherapy and radiation treatments for the next six weeks. Being the upbeat and positive person she is, Julie maintained her regular routine of working at the hospital and would receive her treatments during her lunch breaks.

Being a teacher at Tomball High School, Deborah set her mammogram each year during the holiday break and had her appointment on Jan. 3, 2013. The next day, she received a call from her nurse who shared they saw something that wasn’t in her previous mammogram and would need her to come in for another exam. After getting an ultrasound to confirm, Deborah was given a biopsy and her doctor gave her the news shortly after.

“I was officially diagnosed Jan. 15, 2013. I was in absolute shock. It was absolutely the last thing that I had planned for, that I thought would happen. I’m barely 44 years old. No family history, nothing. It caught me very, very much off guard.”

She immediately began making plans for her treatment.

“I had always said if I ever got breast cancer, I would have a double mastectomy no matter what. I didn’t even hesitate for one second. Immediately I was like ‘They’re gone. It’s done.’ I had a double mastectomy six days after I was diagnosed, on the 21st of January.”

She thought her fight was over, but it was only the beginning. After her mastectomy, Deborah found out her cancer was triple negative and feared the worst knowing this form of cancer was very aggressive.

While both receiving their treatment at Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center under Dr. Frankie Holmes care, Julie and Deborah would meet.

On a day when Julie was beginning her second round of chemotherapy, Deborah was starting her first treatment and was very overwhelmed.

“Deborah was in tears,” said Julie. “She shows up with her husband and you could tell he was kind of helpless and didn’t know what to do. She was in tears, she was anxious and so upset and they put her right across from me. We started to talk. I asked, ‘What’s your biggest fear,’ and she said ‘What if I die?’”

Julie took time to talk to Deborah and calm her down for her treatment.

“She told me ‘It’s going to be okay,’ and ever since that day we’ve just been ‘chemosabes,’” said Deborah. Julie created the term in reference to the popular show “The Lone Ranger,” and the two have described their friendship as that since then.

The “chemosabes” began texting each other and encouraging each other through their treatments since meeting in the fusion center for their chemotherapy treatments. The days when they shared treatment together, they were able to laugh and talk through it. During times when they were away from each other and need support, they were always a text away.

Julie finished her treatment in July 2013 but Deborah still had a few weeks left with her chemotherapy. She still remained by Deborah’s side during her recovery.

“She was my rock,” said Deborah. “She literally got me through chemo. She was a little bit ahead of me and she told me what to expect. She also works in the emergency room of the hospital that we went to so when I had chemo, she would come over and visit me and just keep me going. One time had to have fluids because I was very dehydrated and she came over and sat with me while I had that done.”

Their doctor, Dr. Frankie Holmes, witnessed their friendship blossom into what it is today. She believes their bond developed out of fear of what was going to happen and needing someone who understood exactly what they were going through.

“They still have that fear in the back of their mind, ‘I can die from this,’ and this person next to me gets it. We are bonded by our fear of death and our commitment to life. We are here together taking this chemotherapy which isn’t the most fun thing in the world. It’s that intense bond that is one of the silver linings of chemotherapy. That intense bond is like putting on different set of glasses. It helps you look at the world completely differently.”

Deborah and Julie are both very grateful to have gone through this experience with each other. Neither knew that this life-changing diagnosis would bring a lifelong friend.

“Once you have breast cancer, you kind of get into a little exclusive group that you really don’t want to belong to but then you do anyway,” said Deborah. “ With her, I think it was because we were so close in timing of it and we had the same doctor, she just got me through that first chemo and that’s just something that I clung on to her whether she liked it or not.”

“We both had challenges going through chemo and days we felt terrible and depression, and we used to call it the ‘chemo gripe’ where we could just text each other and complain about how we felt and dealing with things like being bald,” said Julie. “It was such a wonderful experience to have that friend because she knew exactly what I was going through.”

The friends are planning to celebrate Deborah being a three year survivor of breast cancer in January. The moment will be special because Deborah’s cancer was such an aggressive form.

The bond that came out of Julie and Deborah’s experience could not have been made in any other way. Although they live in different cities, they have remained great friends and sisters in their fight against breast cancer.